[$] Bringing encryption restrictions in through the back door

Legislation recently proposed in the US Senate is ostensibly meant tocombat "child sexual abuse material" (CSAM), but it does not actually domuch to combat that horrible problem. Its target, instead, is the encryptionof user communications, which the legislation-tellingly-never mentions.The EliminatingAbusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2020,EARN IT for short, is an attempt to force online service providers(e.g. Facebook, Google, etc.) to follow a set of "best practices"determined by a commission, to combat the scourge of CSAM; the composition ofthat commission makes it clear that end-to-end encryption will not be oneof those practices, but companies that do not follow the best practices will loseliability protection for their users' actions. It is, in brief, anattempt to force providers to either abandon true end-to-end encryption orface ruinous lawsuits-all without "seeming" to be about encryption at all.